The russian bees do not stem from Primorski, I think they are a mix of carnica-mellifera types the settlers from western Russia brought with them. There were no western honeybees in Siberia before the settlers in 1880-1900?  The more or less mite tolerant population here has a few characteristics: colonies are small (smaller than buckfast or carnica managed for honey), they tend to be very "liquid" in the sense that they run on combs and "drip" from frames held outside of the hive and I think most important, they sharply stop brood rearing when conditions are bad (weather). They live on a windy cold island so conditions are often bad. The bees sit tight and don't grow in number, the mites can't do anything except holding on and wait (and fall of of course). In good years they are swarmy, small swarms.  Lennard  
 		 	   		  
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